Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Harvard faculty, alums denounce student newspaper for backing BDS

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/327326

The Harvard Crimson’s recent endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement has attracted far more wide-ranging attention than a typical student paper’s editorial page, as faculty and alumni of the Ivy League institution have lined up to denounce the student paper’s op-ed and condemn the shift in Israel discussion on college campuses.

In an open letter, more than 100 Harvard faculty members objected to the paper endorsing an academic and financial boycott of the state of Israel, including the school’s former president Larry Summers; prominent psychologist and author Steven Pinker; endowed law professor Gabriella Blum; former Harvard Medical School dean Jeffrey Flier; and emeritus law professor and longtime pro-Israel advocate Alan Dershowitz.

“We believe that many well-meaning people with no hate in their hearts, including those at Harvard, gravitate to this movement believing that it offers a means for advancing Palestinian rights and peace in the Middle East,” the letter reads. “But the reality is that BDS merely coarsens the discourse on campus and contributes to antisemitism.”

Trump Jr. Defends Dad's Alleged Plan to Bomb Mexico: 'Is That a Bad Thing?'

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-jr-defends-dads-alleged-plan-bomb-mexico-that-bad-thing-1704485

Donald Trump Jr. is suggesting that his father's reported idea to launch missiles at Mexican drug labs wasn't such a bad idea.
Trump Jr. made the remarks on Twitter Friday following claims by former Defense Secretary Mark Esper that Trump brought up firing Patriot missiles into Mexico. Esper is the most recent Trump administration official to make headlines for claims about the former president's behavior. The tweet from Trump Jr. shows he continues to be one of his father's fiercest defenders.

"I'm still trying to figure out the recent media outrage about my father possibly wanting to target Mexican drug cartel manufacturing facilities in Mexico... Is that supposed to be a bad thing???" Trump Jr. wrote in a tweet.

Trump notches a loss in Nebraska as Herbster goes down in GOP gubernatorial primary: AP

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nebraska-trump-herbster-primary-governor-lindstrom

According to the latest vote count, Herbster, a multimillionaire agricultural executive and state Sen. Brett Lindstrom, who enjoyed the support of moderate Republicans and cross-over Democrats, were battling for second place.

It is the first time a candidate endorsed by the former president in the 2022 Republican Party primaries has lost.

Earlier Tuesday evening, Trump scored a victory when the AP projected Rep. Alex Mooney the winner over Rep. David McKinley in the GOP primary in West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.

Open Letter to Schlesinger twins

 Mazel Tov on your bar mitzva

Don't know if you realize its wider implication - in Jewish law that means it is now your responsibility to keep the religious and ethical principles of Judaism

One of the most important of these being to honor and respect both your father and mother

You are in a very difficult position in this area. Never the less you are still obligated

As a minimum you need to ensure that your mother is invited to the bar mitzva

As a psychologist I will simply note that if you can't deal properly with this issue  it is very unlikely you will have a good marriage or be a good parent. Not a threat or curse - just a dose of reality

Daniel Eidensohn PhD.

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Tamar Epstein's Heter: Newsflash - Rav Nota Greenblatt just acknowledged that he will retract his heter if the reports he based himself on are refuted!

After weeks of turmoil and worldwide outrage - a new development. Rav Nota Greenblatt has acknowledged that he relied totally on the contents of the reports he got when he issued the heter. Therefore if these reports are withdrawn or refuted the heter has no validity and he will retract it.

He has been saying this all along both in his letters and telephone conversations. I had originally thought that he was being inconsistent regarding his taking responsibility for the psak. But he is saying that his role in this is no different than if someone said his doctor said a condition was pikuach nefesh for Shabbos or that someone can't fast on Yom Kippur. He has always stated that he has no knowledge of Aharon or Tamar or any facts of the case. He is reacting totally to the fact that an expert in mental health has said that he certifies that Aharon is incapable of being a husband because of mental health issues. Thus he simply took the conclusion of the doctor and stated that it was consistent with Rav Moshe Feinstein's view of kiddushei ta'us.

Therefore instead of relying on the Daas Torah of Rav Shmuel as I had mistakenly thought he is doing something worse. He is relying absolutely on the doctor's conclusions - not the doctor's diagnosis or knowledge of the facts. Rav Shmuel and R Shalom's role was simply to indicate that the doctor was reliable and what the doctor said. Thus whether the doctor was biased because he heard only Tamar's version was not relevant to Rav Greenblatt. The doctor said it and his believability came partially because of Rav Shmuel's endorsement but mainly because of the assumption that a professional would not state something that could readily be shown to be false because it would ruin his career.
 
His problem then is that he did not know about  the very subjective nature of psychological diagnoses and that if he had taken the trouble of finding out who Aharon was and what Tamar had said in beis din and the courts - he would not have automatically believed that the data supported the conclusion that the therapist wrote - as Rav Feldman clearly shows in his letter.


In sum, this information is not new but is a new understanding of what Rav Greenblatt has been saying all along. Thus instead of trying to convince Rav Greenblatt that the doctors conclusions were not supported by the data or that the doctor could not have known this since he never spoke with Aharon - there is a simpler solution. Either get the doctor to retract his report or get another doctor who refutes it.

Rabbi Dovid Greenblatt - Hesped for his father R Nota

Transcription of the words of Rabbi Dovid Greenblatt by Rabbi Spira

http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2021/05/daas-torah-and-legacy-of-rabbi-joshua-h.html

 My father was matir a woman a year or two ago. He was only matir two women in 60 years. The rest of them, for the other thirty thousand, he travelled on buses and planes, and spent the night, and went to South America, all on his own cheshbon, everything, for thirty thousand. But there were two women he was matir. The last time he was matir a woman, he got tremendous flack. Big Jews criticized him. What happens to us when we get criticized? What happens to a person who’s not a gadol? ‘Ah, you’re criticizing me. You don’t know me. You don’t know why I did it. You should have called me. Do you know who I am? You didn’t let me explain it to you.’ We’re all… We’re all defending… We’re all defending our negi’os. It makes us defend ourselves. ‘What an insult to me.’ But my father said to me, literally in my ear, he said ‘Dovid,’ he said, ‘you understand the problem.’ He said: ‘Now, if a woman needs a heter, a Rav is not going to give her a heter no matter what, because he’s not going to want to take the flack. We’ve now made it hard for a woman who deserves a heter to get a heter.’ He didn’t think one second about himself. This was only about what is this going to do to nebach to the woman that deserves a heter and has a gadol who’s going to say ‘I don’t want to end up with that flack.’ I think it’s a small story but I think it’s the difference between gadlus and… and… and… and… and… and being one of… and being me… being the rest of us. 

The bottom line is that he erred in not retracting the mistaken heter. Contrary to what is claimed above greatness is not stubbornly hanging on to a widely criticized mistake but rather acknowledging the obvious truth and trying to correct the damage. The damage was not caused by the widespread outrage to the mistaken heter but by the heter itself!

Principal purpose of Torah is destruction of idolatry

 Moreh Nevuchim (3:29) You know from the repeated declarations in the Law that the principal purpose of the whole Law was the removal and utter destruction of idolatry, and all that is connected therewith, even its name, and everything that might lead to any such practices The law prohibits us to imitate the heathen in any of these deeds, and a fortiori to adopt them entirely. It is distinctly said in the Law that everything which idolaters consider as service to their gods, and a means of approaching them, is rejected and despised by God; comp. "for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods" (Deut. 12:3 1). In the books which I shall name to you later on, it is stated that on certain occasions they offered to the sun, their greatest god, seven beetles, and seven mice, and seven bats. This alone suffices to show how disgusting their practice must be to human nature. Thus all precepts cautioning against idolatry, or against that which is connected therewith, leads to it, or is related to it, are evidently useful. They all tend to save us from the evil doctrines that deprive us of everything useful for the acquisition of the twofold perfection of man, by leading to those absurd practices in which our fathers and ancestors have been brought up. It is in reference to these idolatrous ideas that the true prophets exclaim, "They walked after vain things, which do not profit." How great is the usefulness of every precept that delivers us from this great error, and leads us back to the true faith: that God, the Creator of all things, rules the Universe: that He must be served, loved, and feared, and not those imaginary deities. According to this faith we approach the true God, and obtain His favour without having recourse to burdensome means: for nothing else is required but to love and fear Him; this is the aim in serving God, as will be shown. Comp. "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord"? etc. (Deut. 10:12). I shall complete this subject later on: now let us return to the theme [of this chapter]. I say that my knowledge of the belief, practice, and worship of the Sabeans has given me an insight into many of the divine precepts, and has led me to know their reason. You will confirm it when I shall give the reason of commandments which are seemingly purposeless. I will mention to you the works from which you may learn all that I know of the religion and the opinions of the Sabeans; you will thereby obtain a true knowledge of my theory as regards the purpose of the divine precepts. The great book on this subject is the book On the Nabatean Agriculture,

Moreh Nevuchim (3:37) It is the object and centre of the whole Law to abolish idolatry and utterly uproot it, and to overthrow the opinion that any of the stars could interfere for good or evil in human matters, because it leads to the worship of stars.


Leading rabbi: Don't visit Meron on Lag Ba'omer

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/327268

Rabbi David Yosef, a member of the Council of Torah Sages, has urged Israelis to avoid traveling to Meron during the upcoming Lag Ba'omer holiday, Kikar Hashabbat reported.

During a weekly Torah class in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yosef said, "I really request the entire public not travel to Meron this year. I repeat and reiterate: I ask that each and every person in Israel, please, this year, do not travel to Meron."

"You know very well that my father and teacher, of blessed memory, never believed in this idea of traveling to Meron in our generation. The trip to Meron has a very holy foundation, there is no doubt....but it's a whole generation already that we know that tens of thousands travel there.

Karine Jean-Pierre 'Stolen Election' Tweets Called Out by Conservatives

 https://www.newsweek.com/karine-jean-pierre-stolen-election-tweets-called-out-conservatives-1705029

Conservative commentators and journalists at right-leaning news outlets have turned their attention to Jean-Pierre's social media history, days after she was tapped to replace Jen Psaki, beginning Friday, as the spokesperson for President Joe Biden. The criticism of Jean-Pierre, currently the principal deputy press secretary, seeks to flip the script on allies of Biden who've accused Republicans of trafficking in conspiracy theories.

Although a special counsel never found that Trump colluded with Russia, a federal investigation resulted in charges against more than 30 individuals. In August 2020, then-Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee members released a report finding numerous contacts between Trump and Russia.The report concluded, "Trump and his associates' participation in and enabling of this Russian activity, represents one of the single most grave counterintelligence threats to American national security in the modem era."

‘I Want to Meet With the Taliban’: Tales of Trump’s Head-Scratching Diplomacy

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/09/mark-esper-memoir-taliban-trump-afghanistan-00030810

I couldn’t believe this was happening. We were actually going to sit down with the Taliban at the president’s historic Maryland retreat, like old friends? There was no way Dunford and I could join him. The Taliban had killed and wounded more than 20,000 U.S. service members in Afghanistan since 2001, and that’s just counting the physical wounds of war. Not only couldn’t I personally do it, it would be terrible for any secretary of Defense or chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to be sipping tea with these terrorists, especially while we still had troops in a combat zone. It would be breaking faith with them, their families and our veterans. It was not lost on many of us, either, that the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was coming up in a week or so. This idea was terrible in so many ways.

COVID-19 booster shot significantly boosts efficacy - study

 https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/coronavirus/article-706267

The third COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine significantly boosts effectiveness against infection, a study published on Monday by a group of Israeli researchers from Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University found.

The peer-reviewed study, published in the scientific journal Nature Immunology, found that the estimated vaccine effectiveness of the third dose against PCR-confirmed infection, regardless of symptoms, stood at 85.6% compared to two doses.

Monday, May 9, 2022

Bar Kokhba Revolt

Ben Kozba further proclaimed himself as the Messiah, and had the backing of theBen Kozba proclaimed himself the messiah greatest sage of his time, Rabbi Akiva, along with many other sages.
However, other sages felt strongly that Bar Kokhba was not the Messiah, and two incidents vindicated them. First, before one of his battles, Bar Kokhba blasphemously proclaimed: "G‑d, if you choose not to help us, at least do not come to the aid of our enemies," thereby implying that the Jews could be victorious without Divine assistance. On another occasion, Bar Kokhba suspected that his saintly uncle, Rabbi Elazar HaModai, knew military secrets. Enraged, Bar Kokhba confronted the elderly Rabbi Elazar, kicking him and causing his death. Their hopes dashed, the Jews then called Bar Kokhba "Bar Koziba," meaning son of a lie. All told, Bar Kokhba ruled in Jerusalem for two and a half years, with minted coins commemorating his rule.

Senior Reform German rabbi steps down after being accused of sexual misconduct

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-706207

Rabbi Walter Homolka, co-founder and rector of the Potsdam Abraham Geiger College in Germany, has decided to step down from all of his roles after the German newspaper Die Welt published an in-depth article exposing claims of sexual harassment and misconduct by the senior liberal (Reform) rabbi and his husband.

Biblical Heroes, Imperfections, Truth: Thoughts on Parashat Lekh Lekha

 https://www.jewishideas.org/biblical-heroes-imperfections-truth-thoughts-parashat-lekh-lekha

Rabbi Hirsch makes a profoundly important point: “The Torah does not attempt to hide from us the faults, errors and weaknesses of our great men, and precisely thereby it places the stamp of credibility upon the happenings it relates. The fact that we are told about their faults and weaknesses does not detract from our great men. Indeed, it adds to their stature and makes their life stories even more instructive. Had they all been portrayed to us as models of perfection we would have believed that they had been endowed with a higher nature not give to us to attain. Had they been presented to us free of human passions and inner conflicts, their nature would seem to us merely the result of a loftier predisposition, not a product of their personal merit, and certainly no model we could ever hope to emulate.”